TEN edits Glee for PG
For a PG classification, TEN deems the word "skanks" is ok but not a line about a teenager making out with truckers.
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If you saw Wednesday night’s PG rated episode of Glee at 8:30pm you would have seen a group of characters referring to themselves as The Skanks.
Led by a new-look Quinn (Dianna Agron) these girls were seen literally underneath the bleachers.
One character, The Mack (pictured, far left), played by So You Think You Can Dance graduate Courtney Galiano told Rachel (Lea Michelle) how she acquired her nickname.
The Mack: They call me The Mack. It’s kind of a double meaning thing.
But viewers missed out on the double-meaning joke after TEN cut a few words.
In the episode that screened in the US just hours earlier the line was:
The Mack: They call me The Mack because I like to make out with truckers at the rest stop. It’s kind of a double meaning thing.
In the cut for Australian viewers by TEN inserted a brief white flash edit.
A TEN spokesperson told TV Tonight, “Networks have clear guidelines about the material they can show in particular timeslots and we take our responsibilities very seriously.”
Played at 8:30pm the show could have been classified as M, but it was classified as PG, meaning TEN’s internal censor deemed the reference out of order. Interestingly, the “skanks” reference stayed.
Another line also ruled ok in the scene was:
The Mack: I’ll give you 10 bucks if you let me beat her up for you Quinn.
In context it was presumably a joke, rather than actually advocating violence or bullying. Context is crucial in these decisions.
Fast-tracking does come with consequences, one of which is the time-frame to consider classification issues.
On the other hand could TEN have issued an Amendment to re-classify it at M on Wednesday afternoon?
Next week’s 8:30pm episode is yet to be classified, but it’s pretty clear The Skanks are here to stay.
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- Tagged with Glee, So You Think You Can Dance
23 Responses
@ Corey – damn straight! Its infuriating to watch Simpsons episodes on channel 10, and then watch the unedited ones on Fox8.
Any episode with Itchy & Scratchy in it is bound to get a cut. The episodes ‘Itchy & Scratchy movie’ & ‘Itchy & Scratchy land’ each have about 1 minute edited out of them!
I think the line was cut because it infers a teenager is having sex with truckers, it makes sence that that was not PG. A minor line tweak is nothing compared to what B&B fans have had to put up with for years, having lines and scenes cut to suit a G rating.
…Ten itself used the word “skank” directly numerous times in episodes of Neighbours that were classified PG, in the context of teen characters referring to other teen characters. So this confuses me.
Well, considering the number of offensive jokes and scenes in that particular episode of Glee, that is pretty rich. In the opening five minutes, Sue fired off a very pointed racial insult against two of the Asian characters – that wasn’t edited out. Then there were jokes made about a rapist, the bash for money joke and the scene pillorying Aspberger’s Syndrome. We also saw a blatant act of arson when one of the pupils dropped a lit cigarette into a piano, causing it to burst into flame.
Channel 10 edits Simpsons episodes all the time. If there are any “M” jokes, they cut it because they want to keep every episode either “G” or “PG”.
There are a lot worse things on home and away these days than that line.
Well skanks isn’t and never has been a rude word so I see why they let it, I mean skanks was even said in the Rugrats movie.
@Someone – lets hope Eleven didnt really write “course” in their consumer advice, huh? 😉
Sometimes I just don’t understand those trucking censors 😛
I think they try to make the whole series PG so it’s easier to replay later on… that is, when summer roles in and they play them all at 730.
@ someone, I don’t think “sh!t” is PG. It isn’t low level, and even then its only when used infrequently.
Don’t blame TEN, blame the censor system they have to work with, but I bet now they’ll have something like ‘unedited edition’ for the DVD. IMO theis is where they should have had an encore on ch11 at a later time for those who want to see the untouched version. BTW it is strange as it’s usually the US the has tougher censor rules.
Looks like TEN are the skanks again with another appaling decision
It gets worse…I was watching Bold and the Beautiful yesterday, and TEN cut the words “we made love”.
I wouldn’t have thought “we made love” breached the G rated 4.30 timeslot?
I just assumed it was M because the morons at Ten were showing it at 8:30pm
Lol, unless I’m missing something that line would be entirely permissible at PG level. It’s clearly not worthy of an M rating. If it was, then you wouldn’t be able to show any American sitcom before 8:30.
Then again, this is nothing unusual. I’ve noticed that with the advent of multichannels the standard of classification has gone way downhill. I think that classification staff are really stretched. GO classifies pretty much every single South Park episode MA even though most of them are only M rated, probably because it’s easier than having to watch each one of them and determine the actual rating. Eleven also seem to classify every episode of Wilfred as MA even though half of them should probably only be M rated, and sometimes they even list “course language” in the consumer advise, even though the language (which is usually confined to use of the S word) is PG level.
Classification staff are indeed absolutely stretched.
I thought that looked like a dodgy edit! And they say they are fast-tracking so people won’t download, but if you edit an episode, people are gunna go elsewhere!
They also made several references to an escaped rapist running for office. Not funny IMO.
So let me get this straight… The word “skanks” is fine. A character threatening to bash another for money is fine. In the same episode we see characters verbally abused for being Asian, that’s fine. We see jokes about wheelchair people, that’s fine. Jokes about Aspergers and Autism, again, fine. References to hooker poles, fine. Characters talking about sex, fine. Seeing characters kiss, that’s fine. But when another character Says she kisses someone, that’s Not fine? Channel Ten, you have some pretty skanky standards!
I’m really at a loss as to what makes that line offensive or risqué…
It seems to me that Ten had the full episode in their system a few days prior to airing.
They played an entire song from the episode as a “first look” a few days prior to it airing. From what I can see, this wasnt featured in any US marketing for the show.
As a result, they could have easily reclassified it but obviously couldnt be bothered.
This is just another reason Not to watch it on FTA.
Wow. That’s odd. I thought it was just an Americanism when I didn’t know what was funny about being called “The Mack”.
Same thing when it came to whatever Brittany said to Quinn about some kind of lollies or something in the context of being the three muskateers.
Seriously TEN….you are idiots.
Give the show an M classification if the content is not suitable for PG.
Easy!
Great. Another reason for people to turn to Channel BT.